UNITED NATIONS – When Barbados Prime Minister Mia Amor Mottley stood up in front of the United Nations General Assembly earlier this year, she was not in a mood to pull punches. In front of world leaders, she decried the “faceless few” who were pushing the world towards a climate catastrophe and imperiling the future of small-island states, like her own.

So Christmas is approaching and the season is in full swing, albeit differently with the pandemic. What has really changed also, is the real meaning of Christmas, at least for some, if not most people. There is so much emphasis placed on the commercial side, that many merchants try to lengthen the season by starting it oh so early. It starts earlier every year. Back in the day we’d have to wait until at least late November to early December before there were any hints of Christmas. Now by August some stores are putting out teasers for sales. I even heard a commercial advertising Christmas in July sale. No wonder Christmas seems to come around so quickly, it’s because some people won’t allow it to go away and take a rest.

BELMOPAN, Belize – Ahead of COP26, (The United Nationals Climate Change Conference) there was a sense of urgency and expectation that had not been felt previously.

KINGSTON, Jamaica – The Caribbean, as we know it, results from the expansion of international trade. Christopher Columbus was seeking a new western route to trade with India and China when he encountered these islands opening the door to further exploration and occupation of the Americas.

KINGSTON, Jamaica - Globally, the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic has rapidly led to close to a quarter of a billion cases and over five million deaths. It was declared a pandemic by the World Health Organization (WHO) on March 11, 2020. In Latin America and the Caribbean, the death rate was reported to be among the highest in the world.

WASHINGTON, DC - The National Association of Real Estate Brokers (NAREB) today released its 2021 State of Housing in Black America (SHIBA) Report.  The comprehensive study finds that the gap in homeownership between Black and White families is wider today than in the decades when housing discrimination was legal.  

KINGSTON, Jamaica -In considering their status, the World Bank using their gross domestic product (GDP) per capita, classifies five CARICOM countries as high income, eight as upper middle income, and one as a least developed country (LDC).

Listen to Black women, they say. Support Black women, they tweet. The praise of Black women in recent years is evident in words, but public statements and hashtags must translate into action. And that action should include efforts to elect Black women.

MIAMI, FL – The Miami-Dade Beacon Council will launch on Monday Opportunity Miami, a new platform to help catalyze a vision for Greater Miami’s economic future — and rally the community to create it. 

KINGSTON, Jamaica – On September 10, 2004, Hurricane Ivan devastated Jamaica with its Category 4 winds and rain causing more than US$350 million in damages and taking the lives of 14 people.

When I recently opened the 2021 Young, Gifted, & Green 40 Under 40 Awards ceremony, I was reminded of the passion, hope, and hard work from young Black and Brown activists who drive the environmental justice movement.

PORT AU PRINCE, Haiti – Haiti is currently making global headlines for all the wrong reasons; it is experiencing a multi-dimensional crisis including an upsurge in violence, a lack of fuel which is crippling many key services and the August earthquake which killed around 2,200 people and left hundreds of thousands in need.